Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Werewolf by Night.
Famous composerMichael Giacchinoalso assumes a directing role behind the camera with Marvel’s newest project, the Halloween specialWerewolf by Night. Not only does this special introduce us to Marvel’s most famous werewolf,Jack Russell(Gael García Bernal), but gives us our first look at the world of monster hunters in this universe. The opening sequence of the special reveals many kinds of monsters that the hunters in the special have killed, and the remains of those monsters are even used as decorations throughout the Bloodstone mansion.
The specific monster that the six hunters are tasked with killing inWerewolf by Nightisn’t just any other monster, though; it’s Man-Thing. In the special, Man-Thing is portrayed byCarey Joneswho also played the WookieeBlack KrrsantaninThe Book of Boba Fett. Man-Thing is a major player in Marvel Comics with the multiverse, and his appearance in this could be yet another stepping stone Marvel has laid out for the upcoming Secret Wars.
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What Happens to Man-Thing in ‘Werewolf by Night’?
The plot ofWerewolf by Nightfollows Jack Russell attending a ceremony commemorating the death of Ulysses Bloodstone (Richard Dixon), one of the most successful monster hunters to ever live. Ulysses’ wife Verussa (Harriet Sansom Harris) has summoned five monster hunters from around the world to challenge them to kill the Man-Thing. Whoever kills him will earn the right to own the Bloodstone, a rare and powerful artifact that the Bloodstone family has held for generations and is the source of their namesake.
Ulysses’ estranged daughterElsa(Laura Donnelly) shows up unannounced to claim her birthright but is chastised by her stepmother. Jack, however, is just there to save Man-Thing and not kill him. Since Elsa doesn’t really care about the beast one way or another, she teams up with Jack, and they plan to free Man-Thing together to get Elsa the Bloodstone she desires. The reason Jack wants to save Man-Thing is that the two of them are actually buddies, seeming to have a mutual understanding of what it’s like to be viewed as a monster. He doesn’t even call him Man-Thing and instead only refers to him by his original name, Ted.
The Comics History of Man-Thing
Ted isn’t just a normal name used for comedic effect when describing a big swampy creature; it’s the name he had before turning into a monster. His comic history is pretty crazy, but the basic gist is that Ted was a scientist who was trying to recreate the supersoldier serum in the Florida Everglades. But, sadly for Ted, this Florida man drove his car into a swamp and got sucked into the Nexus of All Realities (the crossroads between every multiverse) which turned him into the big flora monster we see in this special.
Unlike his comic counterpart, this version of Ted is very emotional. In the comics, he’s closer to being like a spiritual entity that’s the embodiment of the swamp that isn’t capable of feelings, but here he is an innocent soul. It’s almost exactly like the way Groot (Vin Diesel) was characterized in the firstGuardians of the Galaxy. He’s the hulking figure with a heart of gold that only hurts people when his friends are in danger. Similarly to Groot, his best buddy Jack seems to be the only one that can understand his garbled speech. This is just like how Rocket (Bradley Cooper) is the only one who can understand Groot in the firstGuardians.
How Did Jack and Man-Thing Become Friends?
Werewolf by Nightdoesn’t go into much detail on exactly how and why Jack and Ted became friends, but there are some hints. There’s a scene where Jack is smelling Elsa in hopes that he’ll recognize her when he is in werewolf mode. He says that remembering scents has worked once before and given that Ted is the only one he’s close to, it’s reasonable to assume that he knows of this because of Ted. Their relationship is friendly and understanding, Jack repeats multiple times that he has had to save Ted a lot and that this is the last time he will be sticking his neck out for him in a situation this dangerous. Jack being a werewolf is putting himself in a very difficult position as he’s surrounded by some of the best monster hunters in the world. For him to put his life on the line like that for Ted proves that their friendship runs deep.
Ted and Jack make such a wonderful pair because they both understand each other in a way that others can’t. Neither of them decided to be the creatures they have become, they happened because of an accident, or an experiment gone wrong. Ted didn’t want to become a multiversal plant man, and Jack didn’t want this werewolf curse that isstrangely connected to the villain ofGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. This mutual understanding is enforced by the end of the film when the sun rises, and Jack reverts to his human form. Not only did Man-Thing know how to help him revert to his human form, but he knows the routine that helps him readjust to being a human after the transformation. In the little camp Ted makes for the two of them, he sets up a record player to have some calming music play as he wakes up, the song being the famousWizard of Ozsong “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” as sung byJudy Garland. The allusion toThe Wizard of Ozisn’t just representative of the special switching from black and white to color like that film famously did, but it signifies Jack waking up from his worst nightmare just as Dorothy (Garland) did at the end of that film.
Ted even has a card game set up, and some coffee already brewed for his best friend ready to go, presumably to help him relax. This newer, friendlier, take on Ted is a welcome addition to the MCU. Not only is his reinvention as a sweet soul looking for some friends while burning his enemies alive a fun spin on the character, but his design is impeccable. The level of detail on the various flowers and fungi growing out of his body really sells the whole idea of a living swamp thing (pun intended, even though Man-Thing predates DC’s Swamp-Thing). But with his bubbly red eyes, we see that there is still humanity under all that moss. Here’s hoping we see Man-Thing again sooner rather than later in the upcoming phases of Marvel.
